May 26, 2004

Champaign, Ill. - University of Illinois catcher Chris Robinson was named first-team All-Big Ten by the league coaches, the Conference office announced today. He is joined by teammates Chad Frk and Tim Gorski, who each earned third-team All-Big Ten nods.

Robinson, a native of Dorchester, Ontario, earned the first all-conference accolade of his career after hitting a team-leading .359 overall and .342 in the Big Ten. From the start of the Big Ten season April 2nd until the end of the season the sophomore hit .415 (56-for-135), collecting all nine of his home runs, 56 of his 65 total hits and 37 of his 38 total RBI. Robinson started at catcher in 51 of Illinois' 55 games in 2004 and caught all but 10 innings of Illinois' final 39 games. He earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors April 26 after hitting .688 that week, including .667 over a four-game series against Indiana. Robinson also hit a pair of grand slams and set a career-high with eight RBI in a midweek game May 4 against MacMurray.

Senior righthander Tim Gorski earned third-team honors at starting pitcher after posting a team-best 5-2 record and 3.74 ERA in 2004. All of his decisions came in the Big Ten, and Gorski opened his conference season with a 4-0 run, defeating three first-place teams in the process. He earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors April 12 after throwing a 3-0 shutout against Michigan State, in the process handing the Spartans their first conference loss of the year. Overall on the year, Gorski was 5-2 with a 3.95 ERA, and his third-team honor is the first of his career.

Junior third baseman Chad Frk also earned third-team honors after hitting .344 overall and .304 in the Big Ten. He was one of the top defensive third baseman in the league and led the team in on base percentage in all games (.447) and in the Big Ten (.416). Frk, who hit out of the third hole the majority of the season, enjoyed a career-high 12 game hitting streak over the course of the year and hit .636 during the Michigan series.

Minneosta Head Coach John Anderson, who led the Golden Gophers to the Big Ten Championship, earned Big Ten Coach of the Year honors. Gopher sophomore lefthander Glen Perkins, who is undefeated in two seasons of Big Ten baseball, earned Pitcher of the Year honors while Ohio State outfielder Steve Caravati was named the Big Ten Player of the Year. OSU's Jacob Howell, also an outfielder, earned Freshman of the Year honors.